Ahmedabad hosts an international exhibition on future of our cities

Future look of parts of Ahmedabad as per the artist impression

Ahmedabad, 22 September, 2011

Ahmedabad become the first city in Asia to host an International Travelling Exhibition: Vision of 10 global cities which started on September 21 and will continue till October 16. The exhibition is being held at Kanoria Centre for Arts. The month-long exhibition is travelling to India after successful launch in USA, Mexico, Brazil, Argentina and South Africa showcasing vision of ten Sustainable cities in 2030. More than 300 people have visited the exhibition within first two days of its opening.

The exhibition is part of the launch of Our Cities Ourselves (OCO), a Global collaborative programme in India. OCO is an initiative of Institute for Transportation and Development Policy (ITDP), a non-government organization that promotes sustainable and equitable transportation solutions worldwide. The ten global cities part of the exhibition are Ahmedabad, Budapest, Buenos Aires, Dar es Salaam, Guangzhou, Jakarta, Johannesburg, Mexico City, New York, and Rio De Janeiro.

On OCO launch, Ms Shreya Gadepalli, regional director of ITDP said, “OCO uses the power of evocative images to bring to life the future of global cities. The images were created in a collaborative manner with leading urban practitioners and architects from ten cities including Ahmedabad and have inspired decision makers and developers to come together to transform their cities,”

“Ahmedabad has established itself as a frontrunner in India with projects like Janmarg. OCO creates an opportunity for decision makers and people from various facets of life to come together to envision and create an Ahmedabad that is vibrant and sustainable and provides a great quality of life for all,”

The exhibition showcases futuristic large-scale images of an around landmark areas of ten global cities including Ahmedabad developed by international architects based on ITDP’s principles for transport in urban life. In case of Ahmedabad; Jamalpur Gate was chosen as a site to create the vision.

A parallel exhibition, Vision of Ahmedabad, launched in association with Environmental Planning Collaborative (EPC) is on display at Amdavad ni gufa. The exhibition presents a vision for different areas of Ahmedabad developed by leading architects of the city in an collaborative manner, a group of eminent citizens guided the architects to create the vision which is people centric. Member of board of directors, EPC and participating architect, Bimal Patel said,“Six architects of Ahmedabad have come together to portray a vision of what Ahmedabad can be like. They want to show how thoughtfully designed streets, lakes, gardens and transport infrastructure can make Ahmedabad more livable and sustainable for all its citizens”.

Participating architects in Vision of Ahmedabad are Bimal Patel, Kamal Mangaldas, Rajeev Kathpalia, Parul Zaveri & Nimish Patel, Aniket Bhagwat and Apurva Amin.

The Ahmedabad exhibition demonstrates areas around six landmarks of Ahmedabad in the present scenario and vision on how they may look like in year 2030. The areas of their work are C.G. road, Shreyas flyover, and Siddi Saiyyed precincts, Saijpur Talav, Land near RTO and Kalupr station.

On relevance of OCO for a city, Jessica Morris, Chief strategic Initiatives officer of ITDP says, “Our Cities Ourselves invites all of us to ask ourselves what we want from our cities. Do we want to carry on as we are, living in cities clogged with cars, where we can’t breathe the air easily, or do we want cities where we can enjoy our surrounds, moving easily from place to place? This exhibition shows us not just how much better our cities could be, but how simple it is to make them better. If we put people first, cities will be places we can all enjoy.

Both exhibitions highlight Principles for Transport in Urban Life that emphasizes pedestrian facilities and safety, safety and convenience for cyclists, creating dense public road networks which are useful for pedestrians and cyclists, quality public transport system,good mix of residential and commercial areas, densify the neighborhood, compact city with short commuting facilities.The Principles were developed by ITDP and its partner organizations.

As a part of OCO, ITDP is organizing a series of events to address urban issues related to traffic and transportation and demonstrate how better future of transportation in urban life can be achieved, Ms Manvita Baradi, director of Urban Management Centre (UMC) said, “Traditionally, Ahmedabad has a unique participatory approach of growth and this kind of participation process like OCO will help in evolving of new Ahmedabad.”